Monday's Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Can Cincinnati's Nick Lodolo Capitalize on a Prime Matchup?
Five starting pitchers in action on Monday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues.
Writing this column really crunches my weekends. I generally begin writing a day ahead, so on Friday I'm talking about Saturday, on Saturday I'm talking about Sunday, and so on. That means my weekends are disappearing in my mind as I think to the next day. The worst example is writing the Monday article on Sunday; it's like the weekend has already ended. Funny how much your brain can play tricks on you, isn't it?
Let's shift the focus to fantasy baseball and look at five starting pitchers in action on Monday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable starters. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.
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J.T. Ginn, Athletics vs. Los Angeles Angels
I made fun of the Angels before and during their three-game series against the Dodgers over the weekend: they proceeded to sweep those Dodgers by a combined score of 23-15. It's likely we'll look back at this as an oddity in a season in which the Angels finish at the bottom of their division while the Dodgers win theirs, but the Angels made me eat crow in the middle of May. I'm still targeting them, as LA is in the bottom 10 in everything on offense except for home runs, where they rank in the top five.
Ginn is a very average pitcher, including both his walk and strikeout rates. He has spent some time on the IL, making only three starts in 2025. It's been a bit of a mixed bag: seven runs allowed in 13.2 innings but 15 strikeouts and six walks. Ginn is a player worthy of the streamer label.
In this one, Ginn is a mid-level streamer. His work has been pretty good, and the matchup is right, but the Angels are on a bit of a heater, and Ginn is just returning from the IL, so let's temper expectations just a little.
Dean Kremer, Baltimore Orioles @ Milwaukee Brewers
Quinn Priester, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore is an established bottom-10 offensive team right now; there's not much to debate. Milwaukee has fluctuated a little, spending some time on the target list but most of the season performing closer to average team not worth targeting. That might be changing. The Brewers currently rank in the bottom 10 in hits, doubles, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They top out in the middle in any offensive area.
Kremer has generally been around average with both walks and strikeouts in his career, but his K rate is way down in 2025 (15.7% versus 22.2% last year and 20.1% for his career). He's been close to an average pitcher in his big-league time, worthy of fantasy consideration in the right matchups but not someone who should be expected to stand out regularly.
Priester is worse than average with walks and far worse than average with strikeouts in 133 innings, marks that he has repeated so far in 2025. His results haven't been great in the majors (ERA creeping toward 6.00), and he was just a good pitcher in the minors, not great, so Priester needs to show us something positive before trusting him.
Kremer is a low- to mid-level streamer and Priester a low-level streamer. Priester just hasn't done enough to be worth trusting, even with a good matchup, and Kremer's 2025 performance so far makes him a questionable fantasy option.
Nick Lodolo, Cincinnati Reds @ Pittsburgh Pirates
Lodolo is owned in over half of leagues, so he's not quite the same level of streamer as some of the other guys here, but he has another fantastic matchup, and it's worth looking to see if he's available in your league. Lodolo has been a little down with strikeouts this year, but he did high-level K work the past few seasons, and that number is likely to rise, pairing nicely with his better-than-average walk rate.
The Pirates are one of the doldrums of the league, both offensively and overall. They rank in the bottom 10 in most offensive box stats and have the worst record in their division (by more than five games) and the second worst in the National League. There's upside on the pitching staff, but their numbers there are only average, not enough to pull them out of the basement.
Lodolo is a mid- to high-level streamer. There's a little concern due to his lower strikeout rate, but he has been a good pitcher for most of 305.2 innings and is set up for success in this one. I'm confident in calling him a must-start player on Monday.
Ryan Pepiot, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Houston Astros
Pepiot is also owned in about half of leagues but is worth checking for availability given his own performance. He's right around average with walks (maybe just a hair higher), but Pepiot is well above average with strikeouts. His career rate of 25% is about three percentage points higher than the league-average K rate.
The Astros are close to a middling offensive team, not worth going after every day. Houston is more of a team to target when the pitcher is better or options are short. They contrast a team like Pittsburgh, who is worth targeting every day.
Pepiot is a mid- to high-level streamer. His work is better than many streamers that end up here, but the matchup also isn't as good, so he doesn't quite make it to the top streaming level today. Pepiot might be worth a permanent roster spot, though.
Monday's Streamer Rankings
- Nick Lodolo, CIN
- Ryan Pepiot, TB
- J.T. Ginn, ATH
- Dean Kremer, BAL
- Quinn Priester, MIL
